All Things Considered

Commonly referred to as "ATC" and a staple for afternoon commutes, NPR's nationally syndicated afternoon news magazine brings you closer to home with the presence of WAMU's local host.

Since May 3, 1971 All Things Considered has been produced every day from NPR's headquarters in Washington, D.C. Featuring a mix of news, interviews, commentaries, reviews, and offbeat features, "ATC" produces 2 hours of fresh content every day for hundreds of public radio stations around the United States.

Elliott Francis

Local Host, All Things Considered

Francis has worked alongside some of the most influential media executives in the U.S. during his 25 years as a news anchor, including FOX News President and Chairman Roger Ailes, former CNN Executive Vice President Ed Turner, and the founder and former CEO of Johnson Publishing Company, John H. Johnson. In 2002, shortly after joining the ABC news affiliate in Washington DC (WJLA-TV) as the morning co-anchor, Francis was thrust into the rigors of live, non-stop coverage of the DC sniper shootings and investigation, sometimes speaking 8-9 hours unscripted. A skilled interviewer, Francis once convinced singer John Denver to go "on-camera" with details of his upcoming DUI trial.

Thursday, October 10, 2013

Former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick has been sentenced to 28 years in prison on convictions of extortion, bribery, racketeering and tax crimes. The sentence, far more than Kilpatrick's defense wanted, is meant to send a message about how government should work according to the judge.

A possible deal is brewing between the White House and the GOP House leadership, but it's unclear if Congressional Democrats will go along with it. To find out, Robert Siegel talks to Maryland Rep. Chris Van Hollen, the top Democrat on the House Budget Committee, to hear how the proposal to extend the debt ceiling deadline into late November is being received by his fellow party members.

Corn prices have fallen from the record heights of 2011 and 2012. The cheaper corn is helping farmers who need to feed livestock, and it's already showing up in some consumer prices. For instance, Chipotle Mexican Grill, when it released earnings this summer, said it saw food prices stabilizing and it no longer expected to make previously announced price increases for the balance of the year. For grain farmers, though, the lower prices may spell the end of the good times.

Melissa Block talks with Tony Fratto, a partner with Hamilton Place Strategies and former Treasury spokesperson, about how the Treasury pays bills, why breaching the debt ceiling is problematic, and why the debt ceiling exists at all.

Washington, D.C., and its surrounding suburbs were spared the worst of the economic downturn. Federal spending and contracting remained strong, even during the darkest days of the recession. But with the government shutdown, is the region going to take a hit? That depends a lot on how long the shutdown lasts and whether you can make up the money after it ends.

The federal government shutdown is likely to mean that tens of thousands of lab mice will face an early death. That's because the population of research mice is continuing to expand and there's nowhere to put all the extra mice.

Orthodox Rabbi Joseph Telushkin says his belief in some form of life after death flows from the persistence of injustice on earth. If there were no afterlife, he says, "it would mean that Adolf Hitler and Anne Frank had the same fate."

A lack of funding to labs is likely to mean an early death for thousands of mice used in scientific and medical research. The loss of specialty mice, many of which have genes that can cause them to develop versions of human diseases, is especially troubling to scientists — and expensive.

On Thursday, President Obama met with Senate Democrats. Then he met with House Republicans. And White House staff members continued talks with their counterparts from the House GOP leadership. All that talking just a day after there was radio silence between the two parties. One strong possibility for the change in attitudes is a new NBC/Wall Street Journal poll that shows that the majority of Americans blame Republicans for the ongoing government shutdown and just 20 percent of people approve of the Republican party.

Wednesday, October 9, 2013

It won't be easy, but state Sen. Wendy Davis is trying to become the first Democrat to win a statewide contest in Texas since 1994. She's facing a well-funded Republican opponent in Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott.

For a view of the partial government shutdown across the country, Melissa Block talks to Felica Belman, opinion editor of the Concord Monitor in Concord, N.H.; Patrick Malone, political reporter for The Coloadoan based in Fort Collins, Colo.; and Brian Pearson, managing editor of the Tyler Morning Telegraph in Tyler, Texas.

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